Overview of types of records that BCF uses
This section describes the types of records that BCF uses to manage control information during batch job execution:
Execution control records
BCF creates an execution control record in the REGISET when a job step makes its first database update.
This record remains in the REGISET until the job step completes successfully or the actions necessary to restart the job step (batch backout, log recovery, and so on) have been performed successfully. BCF then deletes the execution control record.
If the job step has not completed successfully, or if all of the actions necessary to restart the job step have not been performed, the presence of the execution control record in the REGISET indicates to BCF that the job step is not in a restartable condition. In most cases, BCF can restore the environment for job step restart automatically.
If BCF is not able to restore the environment for job step restart, manual intervention is required. You must perform all tasks necessary for job step restart (as discussed in Manual-intervention. Then you must delete the execution control record as described in this section.
Log volume records
BCF creates a log volume record, or a pair of records if dual logging is in use, in the REGISET at the same time as it creates the job step execution record.
It uses the log volume records to maintain information about the primary and secondary log data sets created during the job step execution. It also uses them to create the Log Data Set Information reports that can be displayed with the other BCF statistical reports.
When the job step has completed successfully or all actions necessary to restore the environment to a restartable condition have been taken, the log volume record is no longer needed for batch backout purposes. BCF deletes it from the REGISET automatically; however, if the Delete Volume Records option is set to No, BCF copies the log volume record to the history data set before deleting it from the REGISET.
If the job step does not complete successfully and the Automatic Batch Backout option is set to Yes, BCF uses the log volume records to obtain the information about the log data sets to use as input to the IMS Batch Backout utility. If the job step requires manual intervention and the log volume records are present in the REGISET, you can display the log records to obtain the information about the logs needed for the manual intervention process.